The practical 18-week roadmap to help you quickly find a career with your humanities degree

If you are at a loss of what careers you can get with your BA, MA, or PhD in the humanities, then you are not alone. Most humanities majors go through a difficult transition after they leave academia.

How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days is a 18 week guide (126 days) where you are shown the exact steps and actions needed to get out of ‘liberal arts career limbo.’

The 126 Day challenge begins right where you are–broke, no idea of what you want to do, working a crappy job, and nothing more than a degree on your resume.

Week by week, the book offers a step-by-step program, helping you turn the big goal of finding a career into smaller, manageable daily actions.

How the book works:

I wrote this book because I think humanities majors can land in many different interesting careers. But there really wasn’t a book laying out the practical steps to take. And most of us who do find careers learn by slow trial and error. This book will speed up your transition.

This is the book I wish I had read starting out.

Here are unsolicited testimonials by readers

I write to thank and congratulate you for writing a book which has helped me to secure full time employment in a job I think I’m really going to enjoy. Last week I received the news that I have been offered a position as a full-time online copywriter at a successful local company. I never even realised that you could get paid to write that kind of stuff before I read your book How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days!

As you suggest, the interview panel really weren’t all that interested in my PhD — but they were very interested in the skills that I developed whilst I wrote it. I just wanted to say thanks — I might never have managed this if I hadn’t read your book. Finding your site was like a revelation to me, and I’ll certainly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to the one I was in.

The story you tell on selloutyoursoul.com sounds very familiar to me — having stayed in grad school for around six years (one year to do a Masters, and then almost five for a PhD in the Social Sciences). Although I graduated my PhD last December, I was really struggling to find any meaningful work, and it was looking more and more like I was going to have to take yet another menial job just to make ends meet (except this time with a fancy new title in front of my name)! All the best

Matt, PhD

James, your ebook is truly excellent. I am loving it, and finding it very useful. This is the most practical career resource I think I have ever seen.

Sara, MA in History

I’d like to thank you for your eBook; it’ll probably prove to be the best investment I’ve ever made, and I’d have been lost without it. I’d probably be on a track to getting another degree, only to return to even more financial uncertainty, and a family becoming even more suspicious as to why my degrees-of-increasing-importance are so hard to cash in for careers. It’s genuinely essential to any liberal arts graduate unsure of their career, and should be as important as Crime and Punishment on every third-year’s reading list. I’ve recommended it to all of my former coursemates (though a lot of them are still in the “denial” phase – but I imagine they’ll come round when they’re waiting tables to fund their expensive postgrad reading lists), and I can only wish you the best of success with everything you do.

Arran, BA in English

I read How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in one sitting, and those few hours were worth more to me professionally than three years of grad school in the humanities (at a top-tier school, with full funding, etc.). James’s unsentimental, relentlessly practical advice helped me find my way out of the ivory tower and into a career that actually rewards my intellect and efforts. If you don’t thrill to the idea of a glorious future of perpetual adjuncthood (if that), you owe it to yourself to check out this book. Thank you for writing this book.

Andrew, PhD candidate

A great Humanities post grad guide that comes from a voice that has been there. It put into words the frustration I was feeling and then filled me with confidence to move forward.

Hayden, MA in History

Because of your website and book, my outlook has changed on finding a career. I am much more focused, realistic, and mature. I see myself not as an MA in English, but as a real person with something to offer the world who happens to have a couple of degrees in English. Thank you, truly

Sara, MA in English

I’m following the steps of How To Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days . . . I strongly recommend it . . . It’s only eleven dahllahs, which is about £7.11; well worth the investment if you ask me.

Scrutiniser, B.A.

Take this e-book as a rehab programme. It is getting you back on your feet. There where you were supposed to be from the start. But somehow you ended up someplace else. It systematically takes you out of a system that does not work. Following the steps and monthly charts from this e-book, I reorganized my whole schedule. This e-book takes you step by step, guiding you back to zero and helping you re-launch in a different direction. It is thoughtful and respectful. [The book] will help you plan, organize, build relationships, self-manage, enhance your potential and eventually get yourself a job. It has humour, truths, emotional and practical benefits. Say YES, YES, YES and get the e-book.

Thanks! I’m just now applying for jobs and I took your advice and tweaked my resume from saying that I was a specialist in Medievalist poetry, a teacher, and researcher and talked about relevancy. I had two interviews last week, and am getting a much better response now.
[symple_testimonial by="Dr. Chris Humphrey, Jobs on Toast.com "]The reality is that today’s humanities graduates face an extremely tough job market, and they need all the help they can get. Fortunately, if they take this book and put into practice James Mulvey’s solid advice, they have the chance to massively shorten the time taken between finishing their degree and starting a great career. James also provides specific advice for postgrads and PhDs who are looking for a non-academic career . . . followers of Mulvey’s method will be growing their practical skills week after week, and learning what works through trial and error. At the end of a couple of months, the candidate who has spent their time and energy getting to grips with the practicalities of a specific industry will have the edge over their purist but out-of-touch peers, as the contrasting cover letter examples in the book wryly illustrate . . . This has to be the best-value careers guide humanities graduates can buy.

Tanya, PhD in the Social Sciences

Loved it. Impressive, no-bullshit look at the real world for liberal arts students. I’m lucky I found this early, before graduating with a sloppy BA and no skills or job experience; i.e., fucked. I particularly liked the examples of cover letters for graduates who have no work experience, as well as the pointers on how to self-train during the process of job-hunting. Humanities students should care about how to “employ your intelligence in the service of a practical problem in the world.

Al, Recent Grad

Because of your website and book, my outlook has changed on finding a career. I am much more focused, realistic, and mature. I see myself not as an MA in English, but as a real person with something to offer the world who happens to have a couple of degrees in English. Thank you, truly.

Roslyn, MA in English

By the end of the 126 days you’ll have discovered

Why humanities majors struggle to find careers.

Over 30 great humanities careers and salaries to choose from.

Four essential tasks related to developing your career.

How to prioritize your daily and weekly actions–so that you stop wasting time.

You have just been spit out of academia–and have no idea of what employers want.

You are sick of “liberals arts career limbo” and wish you could just start making some money and find a rewarding career.

Why buy this ebook?

There’s a lot of career books out there. This is why I think this one can help you:

Because it gets to the core of the humanities career dilemma and shows you how to fix it.

Because you get a practical set of weekly actions.

Because it will teach you all of the typical humanities grad mistakes to avoid.

Because it has a progressive list of tasks, and an 18-week schedule.

Is this the same content as your blog?

No–this is all new. My blog is about the emotional costs of leaving academia. This book is about what to do after you have left, laying out the exact mistakes to avoid, what to start doing, and how you can reinvest your energy into a new career direction.

If you are tired of being in the same rut and want to actually progress from liberal arts career limbo, then this book is for you.

126 Day Guarantee

If you buy the book and feel it isn’t for you then full refund, no problem. In fact, it comes with a 126 Day Full Refund Guarantee. In two years, one person asked for their money back. Questions about the book? Email me at [email protected]

So will this book actually help you get a job?

I know the whole 126-Day thing sounds a little like sales hype. But here’s why I wrote the book with a day-by-day, week-by-week structure.

One day, I found a blog post from a woman in her mid twenties. She had a BA in English and was working retail. She was overqualified for the job, unhappy, but also unable to decide on a career direction.

In other words, she was exactly where I stood a few years ago. I worked as a landscaper, mowed lawns, pedalled tourists around with a bicycle cab, and wrote articles for $5 each. I knew from my own experience the mistakes she was making.

I also knew that if she just kept on hoping a career opportunity would come or hoping that an employer would take a chance, it wouldn’t work out.

I choose this 18-Week system because I wanted to give you daily and weekly actions, helping you take small steps towards a bigger goal.

To be very honest, I never intended to write a career book. I just knew that other grads had a similar story. I knew they could learn from my mistakes.

I wanted to write a dead practical guide. In my book, I give daily tasks. It was a chore to write but I think much more helpful than theory.

Is the eBook a rehash of your blog content?

I hate buying books that are simply a rehashing of blog content. I like to think of my blog as about the emotional costs of leaving academia. My eBook is about the next steps.

If you have read my blog and now want to take a practical step towards a new career, then my book is the next chapter. You will find all new content, new frameworks, and advanced career advice. Blogs are great, but they are fragmentary. Writing this eBook gave me a chance to tell the whole story and write comprehensively about how to solve the challenge of finding a career with a humanities degree.

Why you won’t find this book on Amazon

Most of the people who read it have discovered one of my blog posts. So, I haven’t really had any motivation to seek out a traditional publisher or create a Kindle Version. Your payment is processed through PayPal and is safe. You’ll receive a digital copy of the book right after ordering. I also offer a 3-month return policy.

How to purchase

You can instantly purchase the eBook below. Your payment will be processed through PayPal. You will instantly receive an email and download link after purchasing. If you ever lose your copy, email me and I’ll send a new one (purchase is valid for life).

Reviews

I write to thank and congratulate you for writing a book which has helped me to secure full time employment in a job I think I’m really going to enjoy. Last week I received the news that I have been offered a position as a full-time online copywriter at a successful local company. I never even realised that you could get paid to write that kind of stuff before I read your book How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days!

As you suggest, the interview panel really weren’t all that interested in my PhD — but they were very interested in the skills that I developed whilst I wrote it. I just wanted to say thanks — I might never have managed this if I hadn’t read your book. Finding your site was like a revelation to me, and I’ll certainly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to the one I was in.

The story you tell on selloutyoursoul.com sounds very familiar to me — having stayed in grad school for around six years (one year to do a Masters, and then almost five for a PhD in the Social Sciences). Although I graduated my PhD last December, I was really struggling to find any meaningful work, and it was looking more and more like I was going to have to take yet another menial job just to make ends meet (except this time with a fancy new title in front of my name)! All the best

Matt, PhD

James, your ebook is truly excellent. I am loving it, and finding it very useful. This is the most practical career resource I think I have ever seen.

Sara, MA in History

I’d like to thank you for your eBook; it’ll probably prove to be the best investment I’ve ever made, and I’d have been lost without it. I’d probably be on a track to getting another degree, only to return to even more financial uncertainty, and a family becoming even more suspicious as to why my degrees-of-increasing-importance are so hard to cash in for careers. It’s genuinely essential to any liberal arts graduate unsure of their career, and should be as important as Crime and Punishment on every third-year’s reading list. I’ve recommended it to all of my former coursemates (though a lot of them are still in the “denial” phase – but I imagine they’ll come round when they’re waiting tables to fund their expensive postgrad reading lists), and I can only wish you the best of success with everything you do.

Arran, BA in English

I read How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in one sitting, and those few hours were worth more to me professionally than three years of grad school in the humanities (at a top-tier school, with full funding, etc.). James’s unsentimental, relentlessly practical advice helped me find my way out of the ivory tower and into a career that actually rewards my intellect and efforts. If you don’t thrill to the idea of a glorious future of perpetual adjuncthood (if that), you owe it to yourself to check out this book. Thank you for writing this book.

Andrew, PhD candidate

A great Humanities post grad guide that comes from a voice that has been there. It put into words the frustration I was feeling and then filled me with confidence to move forward.

Hayden, MA in History

Because of your website and book, my outlook has changed on finding a career. I am much more focused, realistic, and mature. I see myself not as an MA in English, but as a real person with something to offer the world who happens to have a couple of degrees in English. Thank you, truly

Sara, MA in English

I’m following the steps of How To Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days . . . I strongly recommend it . . . It’s only eleven dahllahs, which is about £7.11; well worth the investment if you ask me.

Scrutiniser, B.A.

Take this e-book as a rehab programme. It is getting you back on your feet. There where you were supposed to be from the start. But somehow you ended up someplace else. It systematically takes you out of a system that does not work. Following the steps and monthly charts from this e-book, I reorganized my whole schedule. This e-book takes you step by step, guiding you back to zero and helping you re-launch in a different direction. It is thoughtful and respectful. [The book] will help you plan, organize, build relationships, self-manage, enhance your potential and eventually get yourself a job. It has humour, truths, emotional and practical benefits. Say YES, YES, YES and get the e-book.

Thanks! I’m just now applying for jobs and I took your advice and tweaked my resume from saying that I was a specialist in Medievalist poetry, a teacher, and researcher and talked about relevancy. I had two interviews last week, and am getting a much better response now.
[symple_testimonial by="Dr. Chris Humphrey, Jobs on Toast.com "]The reality is that today’s humanities graduates face an extremely tough job market, and they need all the help they can get. Fortunately, if they take this book and put into practice James Mulvey’s solid advice, they have the chance to massively shorten the time taken between finishing their degree and starting a great career. James also provides specific advice for postgrads and PhDs who are looking for a non-academic career . . . followers of Mulvey’s method will be growing their practical skills week after week, and learning what works through trial and error. At the end of a couple of months, the candidate who has spent their time and energy getting to grips with the practicalities of a specific industry will have the edge over their purist but out-of-touch peers, as the contrasting cover letter examples in the book wryly illustrate . . . This has to be the best-value careers guide humanities graduates can buy.

Tanya, PhD in the Social Sciences

Loved it. Impressive, no-bullshit look at the real world for liberal arts students. I’m lucky I found this early, before graduating with a sloppy BA and no skills or job experience; i.e., fucked. I particularly liked the examples of cover letters for graduates who have no work experience, as well as the pointers on how to self-train during the process of job-hunting. Humanities students should care about how to “employ your intelligence in the service of a practical problem in the world.

Al, Recent Grad

Because of your website and book, my outlook has changed on finding a career. I am much more focused, realistic, and mature. I see myself not as an MA in English, but as a real person with something to offer the world who happens to have a couple of degrees in English. Thank you, truly.

Roslyn, MA in English

About This Site

Six years ago, I left a PhD scholarship in the humanities and found myself mowing lawns. This blog recorded each step as I went from being overeducated and underemployed to finding a career I love.

The goal was to document how I found a career, creating a path you can follow.

This site is for the sellouts, the intellectuals who are smart enough and who work hard enough to know their talents deserve a decent wage.